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EDITORIAL: Another lesson from Vietnam
Entering the fifth year, choices are grim in Iraq.
NO PICTURE could have better illustrated the apparent fact that America's Baby Boomers (and their offspring) have lost that old anti-war feeling: Right there in San Francisco - the belly of the liberal beast - a relative handful of protesters gathered. Organizers suggested about 15,000 showed up. More reliable estimates put the figure around 3,000.
Either way, it's but a fraction of the roiling seas of humanity which routinely turned out 35 years ago to oppose the Vietnam War.
So, does that mean America's discomfort with the war in Iraq has been exaggerated?
Not likely.
INSTEAD, IT may mean Americans learned another lesson from the Vietnam era. The United States can declare victory and pull troops out of a protracted, ugly conflict. But not without consequences.
Perhaps few really want to replay that disturbing scene, as the last U.S. helicopter lifted off the embassy roof in Saigon, flying away from a pleading crowd being left behind to the tender mercies of the enemy. When U.S. forces pulled back it was only a matter of time before the weak South Vietnamese government collapsed and was overrun by an enemy, older readers will recall, that had signed a peace treaty forswearing such action.
Those who had helped the Americans and tried to build a democracy instantly became targets. Communist re-education was the minimum they could look forward to receiving.
In the wake of the Vietnam debacle, the United States found it necessary to open the borders to hundreds of thousands of refugees.
IS A SIMILAR scenario possible in Iraq? Undoubtedly.
Polls clearly show the majority of Americans do not like what's going on in Iraq, and want a way out. But the polls also show most Americans are conflicted over how to achieve that goal.
In fact, among responsible Republicans and Democrats, the positions are not all that far apart. It is conceded that U.S. troops cannot be precipitously pulled out, or a bloodbath surely will ensue. Instead, a continued U.S. presence for training and backing up Iraqi forces is anticipated. The details differ, but the overall approach is hardly poles apart.
As Iraq, year five, begins there are still no easy answers.
Only this seems clear: Colin Powell was right when he said, “You break it, you own it.”
NO PICTURE could have better illustrated the apparent fact that America's Baby Boomers (and their offspring) have lost that old anti-war feeling: Right there in San Francisco - the belly of the liberal beast - a relative handful of protesters gathered. Organizers suggested about 15,000 showed up. More reliable estimates put the figure around 3,000.
Either way, it's but a fraction of the roiling seas of humanity which routinely turned out 35 years ago to oppose the Vietnam War.
So, does that mean America's discomfort with the war in Iraq has been exaggerated?
Not likely.
INSTEAD, IT may mean Americans learned another lesson from the Vietnam era. The United States can declare victory and pull troops out of a protracted, ugly conflict. But not without consequences.
Perhaps few really want to replay that disturbing scene, as the last U.S. helicopter lifted off the embassy roof in Saigon, flying away from a pleading crowd being left behind to the tender mercies of the enemy. When U.S. forces pulled back it was only a matter of time before the weak South Vietnamese government collapsed and was overrun by an enemy, older readers will recall, that had signed a peace treaty forswearing such action.
Those who had helped the Americans and tried to build a democracy instantly became targets. Communist re-education was the minimum they could look forward to receiving.
In the wake of the Vietnam debacle, the United States found it necessary to open the borders to hundreds of thousands of refugees.
IS A SIMILAR scenario possible in Iraq? Undoubtedly.
Polls clearly show the majority of Americans do not like what's going on in Iraq, and want a way out. But the polls also show most Americans are conflicted over how to achieve that goal.
In fact, among responsible Republicans and Democrats, the positions are not all that far apart. It is conceded that U.S. troops cannot be precipitously pulled out, or a bloodbath surely will ensue. Instead, a continued U.S. presence for training and backing up Iraqi forces is anticipated. The details differ, but the overall approach is hardly poles apart.
As Iraq, year five, begins there are still no easy answers.
Only this seems clear: Colin Powell was right when he said, “You break it, you own it.”
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